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Soccer

London’s Eurostar Academy is taking part in the prestigious Mediterranean International Cup taking place this week in Spain.

Eurostar is a non-club academy and is aligned with Lazio in the Italian Series A. Luka Shaqiri, former head coach at London City, is the head coach at the academy.

The tournament is expected to attract more than 200 teams from around the world. Teams from 36 nations were represented at last year’s tournament.

The 14th edition of the Mediterranean International Cup will see the participation of teams from FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF, Manchester United, Ajax of Amsterdam, RCD Espanyol, FC Porto, Liverpool FC, FC Internazionale Milano and the national selections of Brazil and Qatar among others. The tournament began Tuesday and will run through Sunday.

Last year’s tournament had 600 games played and more than 5,000 players participating. More than 200,000 fans attended the matches at the 2013 event.

Players from under-12 to under-18 participate. There is also a division for teams made up of players with disabilities.

A number of players have participated in this tournament and then gone on to have high-profile careers. They include Leo Messi, Neymar Jr., Gerard Piqué, Cesc Fàbregas, Sergi Busquets, Marc Bartra, Sergi Roberto and Jordi Alba, of FC Barcelona; Marcelo Vieira, of Real Madrid; Lucas Leiva, of Liverpool; Víctor Álvarez, of RCD Espanyol; Lucas Moura, of Paris Saint Germain; Juan Mata, who recently joined Manchester United and Adryan Tavares, who plays for Italian side Cagliari.